Over the past few days we've had a wave of senior dogs drop by our store in search of the proverbial fountain of youth. Their owners all had essentially the same tale to tell: their dogs had lost their zest to eat. Most had recently developed skin irritations like sores, scabbing or itching. Some dogs were even experiencing new behavioral problems like clinginess to owner or downright apathy towards life in general.

And while I derive no pleasure seeing dogs struggling with health issues, I am encouraged that these enlightened owners had the sense to at least try out a raw diet. They did their research, heard about the wonders of raw dog food from other raw feeders. Another dog owner was even a former raw-feeder who dropped her raw diet, because it was just too complicated to put together a convenient balanced raw diet.

I understand where these dog owners were coming from, because I too once had an aging dog whose health declined for no apparent reason. Fortunately, switching my dog to raw worked and I avoided putting my dog through a whole slew of blood tests, medication, procedures and anesthesia. I hope that these educated dog owners will experience the same results that I did, but like anything else in life, there are no guarantees. Some dogs might be past the age of return, others may have an unknown illness and others may just be too weak to adjust their bodies to a new kind of food. The days of miracles may have passed long ago, but we can still do everything within our powers to achieve our own little miracles by switching our pets to a raw diet.